Page 57 of So Silent

“Damn.” He shook his head. “Why?”

“I don’t know. We’ll ask him later, I guess.”

The police sergeant grinned at Faith and clapped her on the shoulder. “Good work, agent.”

She managed a smile and thanked him, but she didn’t feel the ordinary sense of accomplishment that came with an arrest. Their killer could be lying about defending himself, but the trembling in his body as he allowed the officers to place him in the cruiser suggested he wasn’t.

How horrible to be so sure that evil threatened him that he became the very evil he feared. How cruel to be so certain of innocence even when one’s hands dripped with the blood of the truly innocent.

Faith didn’t exactly feel sorry for Ethan, but she felt little of the satisfaction that usually came with apprehending a killer. She hadn’t triumphed over a villain. She’d only rescued a sick man from acting on his own illness.

She sighed and ruffled Turk’s fur. “Come on, boy. Let’s go get some rest.”

Turk barked in agreement. Faith had no doubt Turk would find rest tonight. As for herself? She doubted that she would find relief anytime soon.

Chapter Twenty Six

The killer shook uncontrollably and refused to make eye contact when Faith and Michael entered the room. Turk walked past the two human agents and stood a single yard away from the man, glaring at him and growling low in his throat. The killer began to weep again and whispered, “Please. If you’re going to kill me, just please make it quick.”

“That’s not how it works, Ethan,” Faith said, taking a seat across from him. “Although fortunately for you, Washington is one of those states that thinks it’s immoral to execute people, even people who execute other people.” She smiled at him, but her eyes remained hard as glass. “But let’s not bring politics into this. I told you you’d have a chance to tell your side of the story. Let’s hear it.”

Ethan Marlowe, the serial killer the media was now calling the Whistleblower, lifted bloodshot eyes to Faith and said, “Please stop lying to me. I know you can read my mind.”

Michael sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Faith leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “You said that a few times while I was chasing you. What makes you think I can read your mind?”

“I know you can,” he said. “You have super hearing. That’s how you found me. The government gave you super hearing so you can read thoughts and hear things from far away.”

Faith frowned. “I found you because my dog heard your whistle.”

Ethan flinched. “You’re giving that power to dogs too?” He trembled. “Why? We’re good people. We’re happy with the government. I mean, sure, some people complain about politics and laws, but we’re not going to try to overthrow you.”

Michael chuckled mirthlessly. Faith frowned at him, and he lifted his hands and turned away. She turned back to Ethan and said, “You think that those women could hear your thoughts because they had enhanced hearing?”

He jutted his chin out. “Why else would they be chasing me? Answer that!”

“Why do you think they were chasing you?”

“Because I could see them!” he hissed. “I could see them watching me!” He began to rock back and forth in his chair and said, “They would look at me when I thought about her. I would have to quickly think about something else so they didn’t know.”

“Know what?”

His eyes snapped to Faith’s. His face paled, and he whispered. “Nothing. Nothing, there’s nothing.”

Faith leaned forward and folded her hands on the table. “I’m not going to lie to you, Ethan. You killed four innocent women.”

“They’re not inn—”

“They are. Whatever you might think you know about some government plot or superwomen or whatever, they were innocent, and you killed them.”

“No,” he shook his head. “No, no, they’re not innocent. They were going to kill me.”

“No, they weren’t. You hunted them, Ethan.”

“No, I just got to them before they got to me.” He began to rock harder, bobbing his head up and down. “I had to. They were going to find out.”

“Find out what?”

He looked at her again and began to whine plaintively. Turk growled at him, and he stiffened and stared at the dog, tears forming once more in his eyes.

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